EU Megane: Qualifying summary

First pole for Dayraut
Jean-Philippe Dayraut (Epsilon-Euskadi) claimed his first pole position
in the Eurocup Megane Trophy. He will start on the front row in both
races alongside Bruce Lorgere-Roux (Tech 1 Racing). But for race two, the
two men...

First pole for Dayraut

Jean-Philippe Dayraut (Epsilon-Euskadi) claimed his first pole position
in the Eurocup Megane Trophy. He will start on the front row in both
races alongside Bruce Lorgere-Roux (Tech 1 Racing). But for race two, the
two men will swap places, after Bruce recorded the second best time of
the session.

Clear skies greeted the Megane Trophies as they took to the track for the
official opening of the meeting. The few remaining damp patches were not
enough to prevent the drivers from heading out onto the track.

With ten of the thirty minutes gone, Frederic Gabillon (Team Lompech
Sport) set the time to beat, but Jaap Van Lagen (Equipe Verschuur) did
exactly that as soon as he took to the track. At 1'44'', the drivers were
way off the pace set in yesterday's collective testing by Bruce
Lorgere-Roux with a lap of 1'42''275.

All the drivers were out on the track shortly after the half-way stage.
Matthieu Lahaye (Tech 1 Racing) wasted no time in setting the best two
lap times. With a time of 1'42''793, the Rennes-based driver moved ahead
of his team-mate Bruce Lorgere-Roux. Then Jean-Philippe Dayraut
(Epsilon-Euskadi) muscled his way in between the two Tech 1 drivers on
his first flying lap. Cesar Campanico (Racing for Belgium) and Renaud
Kuppens (Thierry Boutsen Racing) were next up to enter the fray.

The yellow flags were then brought out after Jean-Yves Mallat (TP
Competition/Moteur Huger) span his Megane. When the green flags were
shown again, Jean-Philippe Dayaut grabbed provisional pole, trailed by
Jaap Van Lagen. The stage was set for an exciting final five minutes! A
spin by Steve Abold (Roma Team Baumgartner) resulted in the yellow flags
being shown once again.

Despite the efforts of Lorgere-Roux, Dayraut was still leading with two
minutes to go. Jean-Philippe Madonia (TDS) was caught out by the
conditions and span off at the Raccordement. He managed to get away
again, but several drivers who were fighting for pole position were
impeded at a critical moment of the session.

Jean-Philippe Dayraut held onto pole position, just ahead of Bruce
Lorgere-Roux. In race two, the two Frenchmen will swap places on the
front row, after Bruce set the second best time of the session.

Anthony Beltoise secured a spot on row two not bad for his first race in
the Eurocup Megane Trophy! The TF1/Auto-Moto driver will have Jaap Van
Lagen alongside him. Cesar Campanico will also be on row two, but not
until the second race.

Matthieu Lahaye produced a bit of a below par performance as he took 7th
and 5th places respectively on the start grids. Christophe Lefranc (TDS),
however, produced a stunning performance on his debut in the category:
the Caen driver will start both races on row four.

Jean-Philippe Dayraut: "This is the only round that is held in France and
it's the only circuit that I know here! It's good to be on pole after the
problems we have had this season. There are four races left and I'll be
going after four wins!"